Description

“It is absolutely a first and a one of a kind.  The attachment I have to it will never leave me.  I love great-grandmother’s water jars and making one to resemble her personal style or shape, was amazing and was very much made with honor.”  Jeff Roller

This water jar is an outstanding example of a master potter’s work. Jeff meticulously sculpted, scraped and polished this beautiful piece.  He tells me that “The brown is all about the firing and the same slip is used as for the black (it is a red slip). The entire bonfire, with the pot inside, is covered completely with manure to obtain the black. The fire goes out as the oxygen is almost completely removed when the firing is smothered with the manure. To obtain the brown color, only a shovel full of manure is placed in the coals beneath the firing pot, which is then at the ultimate temperature. The manure starts smoldering and much carbon surrounds the pot, replacing some of the oxygen, but only the surface of the pot is colored by the carbon. The black carbon on the red slip then results in the brown color.”

This gorgeous brown color is not new, in fact Sarafina Tafoya and Margaret Tafoya, Jeff’s great-grandmother and grandmother, made a few pieces in this soft glowing color. Jeff continues the tradition of excellence today.

Condition: Excellent – original condition – new
Provenance: purchased from the artist